Introducing duckling to our other duck - help!

[taylerwish]

Hi!

Seven months or so ago I got a pair of beautiful muscovy hens, who grey up very happy and healthy and loving people. Unfortunately for reasons we don't understand, someone broke into our enclosed yard and stole one of our babies
It's been a few weeks and we've done everything we can to find her, but unfortunately it was starting to look like she wasn't going to come up, and our other duck was really lonely being by herself all the time of course so we got another duck.

We tried to find an adult duck but unfortunately we couldn't and a few days ago adopted a found pekin ducking instead. This little baby is only 5 days old, and has imprinted on us. We have tentatively and under very close supervision let our muscovy have a look at her, and our muscovy seems to get very overexcited. She doesn't appear to be aggressive towards the duckling but her preening pecks are a bit much for the little one and we're worried she will suddenly become aggressive.

What's the best way to nurture this relationship so they will be friends and live together when the little one is big enough to live outside?

Thank you!

 

[quackingdom]

I'm not an expert on this, but I would not let them be together 24/7 yet. I would start with having them in adjacent pens where they can see each other, or putting them together for short periods of time while you supervise.

I once had a mother duck, Lilac, with three babies. When they were a week old, five more ducklings hatched from a separate batch in an incubator. We hoped Lilac would adopt them. At first, we were worried that she was overexcited and would harm it, as well. She seemed to be very aggressive while we held the ducklings near her. But when we put them down, she tried to attack us, then rushed for the duckling and tried to help it, then rushed for us again, and then tended to the duckling. In the end, it turned out fine and she adopted them.

Go slowly and don't rush it, whatever you do. And don't leave the duckling unattended with the Muscovy.

 

[taylerwish]

Thank you so much! We built her a pen outside and our Muscovy loves to sit beside it and talk to her. They seem to be getting much more comfortable with each other and I even caught them cuddling and nibbling at each other through the wire today! Thanks again so much for the advice x